organization of the educational process according to a definite instructional program. Programmed learning appeared when pedagogy borrowed the rational principles and means of controlling complex systems from cybernetics, symbolic logic, and computer technology. Programmed learning envisions breaking down the subject matter of the student and the tasks of the teacher into small parts and steps. Information is received on the student’s performance of each step (operational feedback) and is used to change the lesson plan. The teacher thus controls the learning process in such a way as to tailor the instruction to fit each student’s learning pace. The instructional program, in the format of an algorithm, for programmed learning is put in special teaching machines or programmed textbooks.
As of 1975, no consensus had been reached on a definition of programmed learning, which has variously been characterized as a system for scientific organization of the work of teachers and students, a pedagogical system expected to replace traditional teaching, a kind of cybernetic didactics, a new method of teaching, and a special type of independent work. Despite the disagreement on the definition of programmed learning, its purpose—optimized control of the process of acquisition of knowledge by the student—is not ambiguous.
L. D. CHERVIAKOVA